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New Questions Raised About Trump’s Medical Fitness Letter

Donald Trump has been peddling ludicrous conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton’s health, despite the fact that Hillary has released a full, professional medical assessment detailing that she “is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as President of the United States.” Meanwhile, Trump refuses to disclose a similarly detailed medical report.

Donald Trump, who famously gives cable news interviews from his home because he can’t be bothered to travel across town to a studio, has launched a new attack on Hillary, saying she’s weak and lazy and has no energy – his latest attempt to mainstream a fringe conspiracy theory about how a woman with legendary stamina and work ethic is somehow at death’s door.

Meanwhile, Trump has provided one laughably inadequate letter addressing his medical history and current health. This is the entirety of the medical report offered by Trump:

It is so ridiculous on its face, so wholly incomprehensive and sounding nothing like a formal letter penned by a doctor, that the hospital with which Dr. Jacob Bornstein is affiliated, Lennox Hill Hospital, was obliged to tweet what essentially functions as a disavowal of the report.

Dr. Bornstein is speaking on behalf of his patient and his views and opinions are his own.

Dr. Jen Gunter detailed the many things she finds concerning about Trump’s medical letter, concluding: “All I can say is typos and weird links and mentions of nonexistent sections of gastroenterology and nonsensical medical information aside, the letter provides essentially no medical information.”

Listen, if Trump had any kind of health issue that didn’t interfere with his ability to fulfill the duties of the presidency, I frankly could not care less. It would so low on my list of concerns about Trump that it would hardly register, given the myriad non-health issues that interfere with his ability to fulfill the duties of the presidency.

I do, however, care that he’s flogging the right-wing’s gross, disablist conspiracy theory about Hillary, no less while he has provided zero transparency on his own medical status. He’s not merely accusing Hillary of being sick, but implicitly accusing her of being a liar who conspired with her doctor to deceive the public about her health – which seems to be shaping up to be another fine bit of projection.

Last night, Rachel Maddow delved into Trump’s typical mendacity on his medical records, going through the letter from “a gastroenterologist; from a doctor who specializes in digestive problems; a doctor who apparently has a Gmail address and a website that does not work.”

A recent Rasmussen poll found that “59% of voters also now believe all major presidential candidates should release at least their most recent medical records to the public.” Trump is the only one of the two major party candidates who has failed to do so.

Unless you count that preposterous letter. Which I don’t.

The poll also found that “67% of Likely U.S. Voters think all presidential candidates should release at least their most recent tax returns to the public,” and, again, Trump is the only one of the two major party candidates who has not done that.

If nothing else, Trump is consistent in his utter lack of transparency.

There are legitimate debates to be had about whether candidates should be obliged to release medical reports and tax returns, but the fact is that it is a common modern practice. Every presidential candidate, though not legally required to make these disclosures, is nonetheless expected to.

Trump has sniffed at these expectations – and his zero interest in complying with the conventions of a presidential campaign is yet another indication that he’s not even running for president anymore, if he ever was.